At the end of October 2025, a team of five undergraduate researchers presented an independent research project to a panel of international judges at the iGEM Grand Jamboree in Paris, France. In its inaugural year, the iGEM@ND team were awarded a Gold Medal for their experimental rigor, design, their presentation structure, and achievement in target areas of entrepreneurship, mathematical modelling, and engineering.
iGEM, the international Genetically Engineered Machine, is an annual competition that challenges undergraduates and high school students to apply synthetic biology principles to modern challenges. This year, iGEM@ND was formed as our university’s own chapter, with the goal of developing independent research project avenues that are student-led, with advisors from across campus at the faculty and graduate student levels.
“I was excited to serve as faculty mentor for the iGEM team,” says Professor Michael McConnell, “I felt it would be a great opportunity to work with students in developing novel products using synthetic biology.” The team saw Professor McConnell as a natural fit as their advisor, having worked in the vaccine development space of biotechnology at Vaxdyn.
The team’s graduate student mentor Chris Turlo has been long connected to iGEM, having served as a remote judge for the past 4 years and serving as one of 20 members of the Judging Committee. “iGEM provides such a unique experience where students get to build and create using the core principles of biology,” he says, “It’s been exciting to evaluate the applications of synthetic biology ranging from bioremediation of toxic metals in wastewater to treatments of invasive plant species and oral probiotics to aid in rare disease. It showcases the breadth of how creative students can be with bioengineering methods.”
Throughout the summer and fall of 2025, the undergraduate students worked tirelessly on their project Fleur, an engineered probiotic that expresses the human GLP-1 at subtherapeutic doses to assist with weight control and management without the long-term neurological risks of current trending weight-loss therapies like Ozempic and Wegovy. A short promotional video of their project can be found here.
Attending the Grand Jamboree in Paris is the pinnacle of their work, as they gained the opportunity to interact with synthetic biologists in assorted roles and fields. “As a competition but also a major networking event, it was incredible to see and hear how professionals in industry and academia formed their experiences within the synthetic biology field,” says Oliver Wardhana (Biology and ACMS ’27) about the Grand Jamboree. Oliver served as the Wet Lab project lead, where he designed experiments, performed literature review, and communicated with local experts on how to best design the project. He elaborates, “It was great to practice presenting our research in front of an audience while simultaneously learning about the many applications of synthetic biology.” Grace Cusumano (Biology ’28) was a key contributor to the wet lab development and troubleshooting of the project. “I really enjoyed getting to do lab research over the summer. It’s been helpful for my career goals to have the opportunity to present at an international research conference and interact with people on a professional level.”
Oliver plans to continue as the club’s president next year, where he hopes to continue to build the experience for future undergraduate students. “This experience helped me not only connect to a wider scholarly community but also advance my leadership skills in a project setting,” he said, reflecting on his time leading up to and at the Grand Jamboree in Paris. Grace is excited to continue doing wet lab work: “The skills I have learned in the wet lab are transferrable from project to project, and I am excited to see what comes next.” Meanwhile, Chris is excited to see the program build on itself with more manpower behind it: “This year has been amazing, and I’m so grateful to have been involved with establishing iGEM at Notre Dame. I cannot wait to see how the team grows and what problems they choose to tackle in future years.”
